Monthly Archives: April 2011

May Tree

Photo Moments,

It’s spring. Really really spring. Because the hawthorn in the field at home is in full bloom.

And it’s magic.

Well, of course it’s magic – it’s a hawthorn in bloom. It’s a May Tree (yes, in April), also called a faerie tree and it has many names – it’s the Thorn in “Oak, Ash and Thorn”, the buds in “the darling buds of May” and the May Queen’s tree. It features in my forthcoming YA fantasy May Queen (2012, Dial Books for Young Readers).

And because it was my birthday the other day, I got a new camera, and so there are pictures. (Many many pictures in fact, but here are a few).

When in Rome

Libraryland, links and stuff, Out and About, travels, ,

As some of you know when I was in Rome for a library conference in January, we were lucky enough to visit the Vatican library. It’s an incredible place. Of course, photos and videos were right out for us, lowly librarians that we were. So too was seeing the treasures!

But one of the group sent me a link this morning to a video report done for 60 minutes on the Vatican Library so I thought I’d share. It really captures something of the place, its history, its (often bizare) accessions – Henry VIII’s love letters to Anne Boelyn for example, and the breathtakingly beautiful Salon Sistino (pic above). It also shows us the behind the scenes work of the conservators, and the amazing things they do to preserve the most fragile of documents for the future. I can never praise this sort of work highly enough.

There’s an additional video where Morley Safer gets the same tour of the Salon Sistino as we did, but I will never forget seeing an elderly librarian of my group standing there, with his mouth wide open and head tilted right back as he stared in wonder at the ceiling like a small boy.

The extras are well worth looking at as well – the treasures oh, the shiny treasures… – and an explanation of why the library is closed to the public. And of course, if the library was burning down, what would the experts save??? 😉

In which I talk… with my hands…

Interviews, links and stuff, news, Out and About, PCon, Photo Moments, , , , ,

At Pcon I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Cheryl Morgan for Salon Futura, and that interview went live today.

It’s very funny to listen to myself, let alone watch myself talk. I use my hands. Let me rephrase that… I use my hands A LOT.

We covered a wide range of subjects in my 20 minutes – my library day job, old books, paranormal romance, erotica (err… yes… *blush* I think you can actually see the blushing in the video), Soul Fire, The Scroll Thief, my Holtlands stories, Young Adult fiction and May Queen. Wiiiiiiiiiiiide range of subjects.

So a huge thank you to Cheryl. May we meet again very soon.

Here’s the video.

*BLUSH*

Want news?

links and stuff, news, Out and About,

I’m starting a monthly newletter (or author mailing list). If you’d like to subscibe, you can sign up here on my website (Bottom of the page). One email, once a month (or at least that’s all I plan for the moment) with a roundup of news, events and things I find down the back of the sofa interesting.

In other news, I am editing. that’s why I’ve been so very very quiet. I am not up to anything else. Promise.